MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
GOD BLESS AMERICA! 

There will be NO 9am Mass at Queens on Monday May 27th.  Instead, I hope you will all grab a lawn chair and join us for the Annual Memorial Day Mass at 9am in the St. John Catholic Cemetery.  The canons will fire, the flag will be folded, taps will be played, and all those who have died in service to our country will be remembered.

 

Join us after the Mass down the hill at the Soldier’s Memorial to remember those who died in combat, prisoners of war, and all those missing in action.  In a special way, we will recall the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and those who lost their lives storming the beaches of France on June 6, 1944. 

 

The world is at its best when a God-fearing America lights and leads the way for all peoples who aspire to live free.  The moral compass of America is bent, if not broken, and the rest of the world seems to be destabilized as a result.  We would do well to learn from the patriotism, service and sacrifice of these American heroes who loved liberty more than life. 

 

ALL ARE WELCOME!
PLEASE PLAN TO COME!
JUNE 2ND 3PM CORPUS CHRISTI
EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
AT LUMEN CHRISTI

Corpus Christi has special significance as there are four separate nationwide Eucharistic processions that will soon be making their way from the north, south, east and west heading toward the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21.    Most of us won’t be able to participate in that.  Bishop Boyea has instead asked each Deanery in the Diocese to work together for a more robust celebration of Corpus Christi this year, to publicly manifest our shared Eucharistic faith, and to throw our support behind the upcoming Eucharistic Congress.

 

That is why the parishes of the Jackson Deanery are joining forces with the Jackson Catholic Schools to have a Eucharistic Procession on a scale never before seen in this area. 

 

The 2024 Corpus Christi Eucharistic Procession will take place at 3:00pm on Sunday June 2nd at Lumen Christi Catholic School on Spring Arbor Road.

 

There will be an outdoor procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament, stopping to pray at four handsomely decorated outdoor altars.  By having this event at Lumen Christi, we are hoping to engage people from all our parish and school communities, especially young families who have never attended before. 

 

The pastors hope that this year’s First Communicants will be in attendance dressed once more in their beautiful suits and dresses.  We ask all the children to bring bells to ring and bags of fresh flower petals to toss in the path of the procession as the canopy with the Blessed Sacrament underneath it passes by.  

 

After benediction, everyone is invited inside the school for a farewell reception for Lumen Christi Chaplain Fr. Brian Lenz who will be leaving in June to become the pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Church and School in Flushing. 

 

Please join us at Lumen Christi on Sunday June 2nd during the Great Hour of Mercy, 3 o’clock, and experience the wonders and mysteries this special event has to offer.  This event starts and ends in the Gym.  

 

SUMMER VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
JULY 8 -12 2, 2024, 9AM – 12:15PM

The next big event for the children of the parish will be SCUBA – Queens Summer Vacation Bible School, July 8 – 12.  This program is open to children in pre-school thru grade 6.  It runs Monday to Friday 9am – 12:15pm each day.  

 

Use the link below to register your children and take advantage of the early bird discount.  

 

If you are willing to volunteer or you have a student at home who will help in order to gain service hours, contact our Faith Formation Director, ‘Bible School Betsy:’

 

bkoval@queenschurch.com

 

YOUTH MINISTRY BEACH PARTY
SATURDAY JUNE 22, 1PM
VANDERCOOK LAKE

Parents of high schoolers, please encourage your kids to get involved in the new Jackson Catholic Youth Group.  ALL teens will be welcome and encouraged to participate in these youth events, including those at Lumen Christi AND all local public school districts, private schools and homeschoolers.

 

Come to the Youth Group Beach Party Kick Off event on the beach at Vandercook Lake at 1pm on Saturday June 22nd.  See the ad below.  The Knights will be grilling. There will be games, music, fun and making new friends.  It is all free and it will be fun!  Youth can use the QR code in this ad to get signed up to attend.      

 

 

BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS TO BE CANONIZED
THE FIRST MILLENNIAL SAINT

If you need any inspiration to make the time to come to the Corpus Christi Procession, or to get your teens into the youth group, just read this . . .

 

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

 

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, May 23, 2024 / 06:22 am

 

Pope Francis has recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, paving the way for him to become the first millennial saint.  The Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006 is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

 

The recognition of the second miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession makes it possible that Acutis could be canonized during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

 

In a decree on May 23, Pope Francis approved the miraculous healing of a 21-year-old girl from Costa Rica named Valeria Valverde who was near death after seriously injuring her head in a bicycle accident while studying in Florence in 2022.

 

After the girl underwent an emergency craniotomy to reduce intracranial pressure, the family was told that her situation was very critical and that she could die at any moment, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

 

Six days after the accident, Valeria’s mother went on a pilgrimage to Assisi to pray for the healing of her daughter at the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis, leaving a written note.

 

On that same day, Valeria began to breathe on her own and on the following day she recovered the use of her upper limbs and partly recovered her speech.

 

Valeria was discharged from the intensive care unit 10 days after her mother’s pilgrimage and underwent further tests that showed that the hemorrhagic right temporal cortical contusion in her brain had completely disappeared.

 

Contrary to medical predictions, Valeria spent only one week in physical therapy and on Sept. 2, 2022, two months after her accident, she went on a pilgrimage to Carlo Acutis’ tomb in Assisi with her mother to celebrate her complete healing.

 

The first millennial saint

 

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church.

 

Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Carlo told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.” To accomplish this, Carlo sought to attend daily Mass as often as possible at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.

 

Carlo called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.

 

Carlo was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Carlo was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.

 

Over the course of two and a half years, Carlo worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

 

Many of Carlo’s classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. Carlo was a very open person and was not shy to speak with his classmates and anyone he met about the things that he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.

 

He is remembered for saying: “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

 

Carlo died at the age of 15 in 2006 shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Carlo told his mother: “I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven.”

 

—————

 

Carlo’s feast day is October 12

 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us.

 

SPREADING GOD’S WORD BEHIND BARS

If you have an interest in donating toward the purchase of Catholic bibles for Catholic prisoners in the Jackson prisons, we would welcome a gift of any size.  Checks could be made payable to Queens and marked ‘Prison Bibles’ and put in the collection at Mass or dropped off at the parish office. 

 

Please help these men who are seeking to walk a new path out of darkness and into the light of God’s love and mercy.   

 

THIS WEEKEND IS TRINITY SUNDAY
CELEBRATING THE ONE GOD WHO IS
FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT

 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching” (Heb 13:8-9).

 

Fr. Tim MacDonald

Pastor

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church

606 S. Wisner St.  Jackson, Michigan 49203

(517) 783-2748  www.queenschurch.com